Love May Be A Battlefield
by mediaqueen90
Summary: Love May Be A Battlefield  But For Michael Westen Its Trench Warfare .    Set after Mind Games, with references to Bloodlines.      Fi and Michael have some problems and someone reacts badly.    Thanks to the Betas!


_**AN: Spoilers for Bloodlines and Mind Games. (ie. 5X2 and 5x3)**_

_We are strong; no one can tell us we're wrong  
>Searchin' our hearts for so long<br>Both of us knowing  
>Love is a battlefield <em>

Michael had had physical nightmares before. For someone in his line of work, that was no surprise, but sometimes, bringing the job home with you wasn't the best idea. Some days you could let it go and sleep easy, other days it was hard to put away in that lock box and not touch it for 24 hours. For Michael there were more of the latter days than the former, but to say that there wasn't any former days wouldn't have been a lie. The night he'd asked Fiona to move in had been one.

But Pat Benatar got it right when she said Love was a battlefield. Or so Fiona insisted.

This particular night the humidity was above average and despite the light mist of rain outside it was doing nothing to cool the loft down inside. When Fiona Glenanne slept it was usually a deep sleep of someone pleased with herself and her day's events, the gun purchases, shoe purchases and the occasional poor soul in trouble helped. But tonight Fiona was sleeping light. She had been ever since Michael had started reacting badly to settling down. Despite her light slumber, she could feel him tossing and turning beside her, caught up in some violent dream from his – or their – past. Admittedly it was nothing new; Fiona was annoyingly, albeit worriedly getting used to his behaviour. The other night when she'd woken and found him pouring over old files looking for answers that weren't there she knew she'd have to wait for it to get worse for it to get better. But time and patience wasn't something that Fiona often possessed. Patience least of all.

So when she was roused from her slumber by something striking her face, all her hard mustered patience dissipated. She came up swinging, striking his stomach and legs, and anything she could reach before she stopped and assessed the situation. Michael was sitting up, pale and shocked, as if he'd seen a ghost. He seemed unaffected by Fiona's blows, but she wasn't surprised, as she hadn't struck him very hard. Fiona lifted a hand to her face and was relieved that there was no blood coming from her nose.

"Michael?" Fiona tried hard to keep the anger from her voice but some filtered through anyway.

"Fi..." He breathed, still in shock. Fiona didn't think it was possible but Michael paled even more as he reached to touch the darkening skin on her face, but just before he touched her face, Michael recoiled and bolted from the bed.

He made it to the toilet just in time to empty his stomach, and continued to heave. Fiona stood just outside the doorway to the bathroom, a damp towel in her hands. It pained Fiona to see Michael like this and unsurprisingly, it was a struggle to see him in such a state. Eventually, Michael leaned back with a soft sigh, weariness causing him to sit down where he was.

"Michael?" Fiona asked again, in a softer, more concerned tone.

Michael raised his head, a truly ashamed expression coming over his face. "Fi I- I'm so sorry." Fiona crouched beside her lover and gently wiped his face. He pushed her ministrations away and got unsteadily to his feet. "I'm sorry Fi." he said again quietly. He steadied himself, kissed her cheek gently where he had hit her, and shuffled out of the small room, grabbing things for a makeshift bed. Fiona reached out and grabbed his wrist, stopping.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"You deserve a good night's sleep Fi. With me, that's not going to happen. At least, not any time soon." Michael squeezed Fiona's hand before pulling away and heading upstairs.

Fiona trudged sadly back to the bed she and Michael now shared. "Goodnight Michael."

"'Night Fi."

Fiona would make Michael see that it was only dead ends, or at least if there was something, she would help Michael move on. Let sleeping dogs lie. That way he would stay alive. He was one person Fiona could not lose.

_We're losing control  
>Will you turn me away or touch me deep inside<br>And before this gets old, will it still feel the same  
>There's no way this will die<br>But if we get much closer, I could lose control  
>And if your heart surrenders, you'll need me to hold<em>

_We are young  
>Heartache to heartache we stand<br>No promises, no demands  
>Love is a battlefield <em>

_End._

-oo-BN-oo-

**AN: Okay, we all know that what Fi wants and what Michael does are two different things, but hey, at least they are finally living together right?**

**AN2: Song: "Love is a Battlefield" Pat Benatar. Lyrics (unknowingly) supplied by Lyrics on Demand.**

**AN3: For those White Collar AND Burn Notice Nuts, did anyone notice the palindrome in this week's episode numbers? WC 3x05 BN 5x03. Heh. **


End file.
